The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/917835
JANUARY 2018 THE WOLVERINE 23 Regular-Season Grade This wasn't exactly a position of strength this year, but it wasn't entirely the quarterbacks' fault. Poor pass block- ing was responsible for two signal-call- ers getting hurt, Speight for most of the year with three broken vertebrae and Peters with a concussion. That left it up to O'Korn, who played in nine games and had one good showing — his relief effort at Purdue when Speight went down. O'Korn was the offensive player of the game in throwing for a career-high 270 yards with a score, but he never matched that production the rest of the way. He finished 83-of-156 passing (53.2 percent) for 956 yards with two touchdowns and six picks. U-M's trio of QBs only completed 54.5 percent of its passes and accounted for nine touchdowns against eight intercep- tions, two of which were returned for touchdowns. PHOTO BY LON HORWEDEL Quarterbacks MVP REDSHIRT FRESHMAN BRANDON PETERS Peters took over quarterback duties against Rutgers and provided an immedi- ate spark, leading the Wolverines to scoring drives on four of his first five possessions. He got them in field goal position (a missed kick) on the other, and didn't relinquish the starting job until a concussion knocked him out in the third quar- ter at Wisconsin. The redshirt fresh- man primarily wins this honor by default. He only completed 37 passes in 64 attempts for 486 yards (57.8 percent, 97.2 yards per game), and he didn't complete more than nine passes in any of his starts. But he was also Michi- gan's best ball protector, throwing for a team-best four touchdowns and zero picks, and the offense moved best with him under center. Unsung Hero REDSHIRT JUNIOR WILTON SPEIGHT Although he was injured Sept. 23 at Purdue and lost for the rest of the sea- son, many people forget that Speight led the Wolverines to a 4-0 record in the games he started. Granted, he wasn't outstanding when healthy — 54.3 com- pletion percentage, 581 passing yards, three touchdowns and two interceptions — but the offense was much more effec- tive with him at the helm than fifth-year senior John O'Korn. In the four games Speight started, the offense averaged 31.5 points; in the eight contests started by someone else, it only averaged 22.9. Year Total Passing Yards (Touchdowns) 2017 2,023 (9) 2016 2,756 (20) 2015 3,090 (21) 2014 2,042 (10) 2013 3,221 (21) 2012 2,591 (20) 2011 2,377 (22) 2010 3,252 (23) 2009 2,380 (15) 2008 1,718 (11) status Of schOlarship players GRADUATED: John O'Korn ELIGIBILITY REMAINING (YEARS): Dylan McCaffrey (4) Brandon Peters (3) TRANSFERS: Wilton Speight Alex Malzone D+ NUMBERS TO KNOW Michigan's quar terbacks this season accumulated some of the poorest statis- tics that U-M signal-callers have posted over the last 10 seasons. The trio of fifth- year senior John O'Korn, redshirt junior Wilton Spei- ght and redshirt freshman Brandon Peters combined to throw for just nine touchdowns and 2,023 yards. The nine scoring tosses are the fewest for U-M since 1975 (five), while the passing yardage is the lowest since 2008 (1,718). Here's a closer look at how those numbers stack up against the last decade: Offensive coordinator Tim Drevno "[Redshirt freshman quarterback] Brandon [Peters] has that DNA makeup to be an out- standing football player and quarter- back here at Michigan, and that's what you're looking for in a quarter- back — a leader and an even-keel guy who can make a play when there's no play to be made." Brandon Peters